3 Key Factors That Could Drive Amazon Stock Higher in the Coming Months
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the world’s largest and most diversified companies, with businesses ranging from e-commerce to cloud computing to healthcare. The company has been growing rapidly in recent years, generating over $538 billion in revenue and $13 billion in net income in the last twelve months. However, volatility and a souring macroeconomic outlook have created a lot of downward pressure for all kinds of tech stocks in recent weeks, investors fearing the high valuations many of them boast are unsustainable as growth prospects dim. As tech stocks begin to emerge from their September lows, public equities investors may want to take another look at AMZN stock and its attractive business prospects.
AWS Has Plenty of Room to Grow
One of the main drivers of Amazon’s growth is its cloud service, Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is the leader in the global cloud market, with a leading market share in major markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and India. The cloud service essentially provides a wide range of services to millions of customers across various industries. These services include computing, storage, database, analytics, artificial intelligence and internet of things.
AWS growth has largely stabilized in 2023. In the first quarter, AWS revenue increased 16% on a year-over-year basis, and the company began to launch data centers in Malaysia to expand its Southeast Asia coverage. However, in the second quarter, top-line growth came in lower at 12% Y/Y. Still, Amazon has worked to revitalize growth rates. As an example, AWS introduced a service called Bedrock that would help customers deploy artificial intelligence models on AWS. Moreover, while AWS revenues have decelerated, this portion of Amazon’s business remains highly profitable, generating $5.4 billion in operating income for the second quarter alone.
As more businesses migrate to the cloud and adopt new technologies, AWS will continue to have attractive growth prospects and propel AMZN stock further.
Healthcare is an Important Growth Segment
Amazon entered the healthcare sector in 2018 with the acquisition of PillPack, an online pharmacy that delivers medications to customers’ doors. Since then, Amazon has expanded its healthcare offerings, launching Amazon Clinic, a digital healthcare services provider that connects employees with doctors and nurses via chat or video.
While Amazon’s strides into the healthcare sector are still in their beginning stages, there are already signs of the tech giant’s success. For example, the insurer Blue Shield of California said it would drop CVS Health’s (NYSE:CVS) Caremark, the pharmacy-benefit manager it currently uses, which negotiates drug prices and wraps in other services such as a mail-order pharmacy. Blue Shield will instead partner with Amazon’s pharmacy.
As millions of customers use Amazon daily to provide them services, Amazon’s foray into healthcare could serve to further supplement its customers’ other necessities, and there is no doubt the tech giant has the capital and expertise to make these healthcare investments workout well for the company and its shareholders.
Shares Have Reached an Attractive Entry Point
AMZN stock will rise in the coming months as it has reached a good entry point after the September slump. Shares have slid 10.6% since their 2023 high of $144.85 per share in September. Furthermore, the stock is currently trading at a reasonable valuation of 13.3 times forward EBITDA, below where shares were trading in the middle of 2023. The reason for the slump is likely due to a combination of macroeconomic factors that has been triggering volatility in the market all year. While inflation has surely come down over the past 12 months, the Federal Reserve could hike interest rates again if inflation pain-points persist.
Nonetheless, Amazon’s fundamentals are strong and growth levers remain intact, as the company continues to invest in innovation, customer satisfaction and global expansion. Investors should not count Amazon out just yet.
On the date of publication, Tyrik Torres did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
